What Did the Five-Day Barcelona Shakedown Reveal About the 2026 F1 Season?

The curtains have closed on the 2026 Formula 1 Shakedown in Barcelona, and the paddock is full of smiles. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton is no exception. The five days of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ended with the Ferrari driver at the top of the timing sheets, clocking a one-16.348 with Mercedes driver George Russell only a tenth of a second behind. For reference, the 2022 pre-season testing in Barcelona at the start of the ground-effect era concluded with the then Mercedes teammates in the same order. The sidepod-less W13 car went on to win a single grand prix that year, and Hamilton endured his first without a win or pole position. 

So, lap time is not a great metric, but on the subject of smiling men in their 40’s and sidepods, Fernando Alonso was in good spirits after driving the first Aston Martin car under the leadership of team principal, Adrian Newey. The Honda-powered car is considered the most radically designed aero package on the grid, with the sidepods sparking plenty of conversation. The AMR26 features a unique to the rest of the field underbite design, with a severe incline. There is not much data to endlessly speculate on as Aston Martin only completed 65 laps over the course of the preseason shakedown. The car did not make an appearance until day four, which was the number of laps Lance Stroll completed before a technical failure. On the final day, Alonso logged 61 laps. Both drivers seemed hopeful despite recording the fewest miles of any participating team.

There was a team that did not make an appearance at all. Williams opted not to show up. They will instead run a virtual track testing program in preparation for testing in Bahrain on February 11th. The gap was filled by newcomers Cadillac F1. The American outfit completed the goal of the shakedown, running the car in three of the five days, with time split pretty evenly between their experienced driver lineup of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. Considering the short existence of the team built from the ground-up I would consider this a success. Audi F1, with the benefit of taking over the already existing Sauber team, faced the unique challenge of running a works engine not being used by any other team on the grid. Audi can produce a mighty turbo hybrid V6 engine, proven by their World Endurance Championship success in the past, but Formula 1 has introduced new challenges for them. What we know for sure is that it is capable of completing 243 laps without major issues. 

The closed door, but heavily covered, Barcelona shakedown was never going to provide many answers. For now, teams can remain optimistic, and drivers can retain their smiles. Meanwhile, fans can pretend to be engineers and experts. The true performance of each team will not be clear until March 6th, when F1 arrives in Melbourne for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix.